The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir
Label: Bloodshot
Length: LP
Media: CD
Format: Album
WorkNameSort: Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, The
For a band based in Chicago, the Scotland Yard Gospel Choir sure sounds British; perhaps it’s because mastermind Elia is Welsh-born? The band deals in the sort of smart, brisk pop that has historically come out of the U.K.; their lightly stepping tunes are stroked with lush chamber treatments and patted with twee and jangle. The dulcet melodies, however, belie dark, literate lyrics – a rather British thing in itself. The crux of their sound is unimaginative mimicry. “Aspidistra” sounds like the love child of the Jam and the Buzzcocks, “Then and Not a Moment Before” shadows Belle & Sebastian and the fetching “I Never Thought I Could Feel This Way for a Boy” could be a lost track by the Field Mice. Forgive its scarcely concealed reference points and this album is a lovely jaunt through the British pop landscape.
This article appears in Oct 24-30, 2007.